As a result, this year the youngest son of the Wang family, a wealthy landlord in Ling County, died at the age of seventeen. The Wang family was heartbroken and hoped to find someone to arrange a ghost marriage for their young son so that he would not be alone on his way to the underworld.
After searching for two or three months, I still couldn't find a suitable candidate.
Seeing that the child's body had been lying in state for so long, and was almost rotting, the Feng Shui master who had previously read the horoscopes of Fang Caixia and the eldest son of the Zhou family came up with a bad idea. He thought that Fang Caixia's horoscope was compatible with that of the youngest son of the Wang family, and that they were about the same age, so why not...
So the Wang family spent a lot of money to find the Zhou family. The Zhou family thought that Fang Caixia had killed their eldest son and made their family fall into poverty. Being a concubine for their second son might also harm him, so it would be better to exchange it for a large sum of money.
This amount of money is many times more than the betrothal gift given out in the beginning, and I made a lot of money in the end.
However, the Song Dynasty abolished slavery and did not allow the slave trade. Even if a slave came to a house to be a servant, he or she had to sign a contract. If a master beat a slave to death, it would be considered murder and the slave would be punished with caning and exile.
When Chen Zhizhong was prime minister, he killed a maid and was demoted and exiled. He took advantage of the fact that officials were not subject to punishment and that he was protected by Emperor Renzong of Song, Zhao Zhen. Ordinary landlords who killed tenants and servants at will were generally punished with a hundred strokes of the cane and then exiled to the frontier.
What's more, Fang Caixia was not a slave, but the legal wife of the Zhou family. If she was killed directly, if the Fang family came to find them in the future, the Zhou family might be imprisoned or sued.
So they simply falsely accused Fang Caixia of adultery and wanted to punish her according to clan law.
In this way, all that is needed is for the landlord Wang to take care of the government and let the villagers change their story to that Fang Caixia was drowned in a pig cage because of adultery, and then the matter will naturally come to nothing.
By then, there will be people from the same village helping to give false testimony, and since Fang Caixia is dead, there will be no evidence to prove her wrongdoing. As outsiders, the Fang family will not be able to do anything to them even if they come to their door in the future.
And today is the day when the Wang family sent people to pick up Fang Caixia, preparing to drown her directly in a pig cage and then take the body back.
After hearing the whole story, Zhao Jun was so angry that his hair stood on end and his nose almost got crooked.
Although I know from studying history that there were many bad habits in ancient society, I have only seen some of them in history books and have never actually seen such a situation.
But now people's lives are being taken away in front of his eyes. If he lets it go, how can he have the face to face his bold words about changing the Song Dynasty?
"Catch him!"
Zhao Jun said without hesitation, "Da Lang, go back to the boat and call for more help. Don't let any of the participants go!"
"yes."
Jiang Dalang turned around and ran towards the river in the distance.
"This gentleman!"
Seeing the other party's aggressive approach, the leader of the Wang family did not dare to speak out. Instead, he said, "We are all just trying to make a living. We don't need to make a big deal out of this."
"oh?"
Zhao Jun asked, "You mean you take human life so lightly, and this is just a small matter?"
The leader said sternly, "Please be kind to me. As long as you can pretend not to see anything today, our Wang family will not treat you unfairly. I have five taels of silver in my sleeve, please accept it."
When Fang Caixia heard this, her heart suddenly tightened. She squatted on the ground and looked at Zhao Jun with almost pleading eyes.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Jun didn't look at her. Instead, he turned his head to look at Huang Sanlang and others, and said with a mocking smile: "Sanlang, he said he wanted to bribe me with five taels of silver."
“Hahahahahahahaha.”
Huang Sanlang and others also laughed.
The chancellor is in charge of state power. After the autumn taxes came in last year, the money in the national treasury was more than 40 million strings of cash.
It is all controlled by the Zhiyuan and distributed according to annual expenditure.
Even without mentioning the national treasury, the gifts sent by Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and others alone could be worth hundreds or thousands of strings of cash at the worst, and even nearly ten thousand strings at the most expensive.
Just these few taels of silver?
To send away beggars.
Seeing everyone laughing, the leader's face turned cold and he said, "I advise you all not to be ungrateful, or you will suffer and even be unable to leave Bozhou."
"Haha, threatening me?"
Zhao Jun sneered and said, "What if I insist on interfering?"
"The Magistrate Shi from the Yamen is a good friend of my master. Please don't refuse my toast."
The leader said coldly.
"The county magistrate."
Zhao Jun feigned hesitation, then said, "As men of justice, we shouldn't stand by and watch someone die. But if it's really the county magistrate, I'm willing to give him some face. But what if you're trying to trick me? If you can get the magistrate to come, we'll talk later. Otherwise, I'll take care of this matter today and bring you before the authorities."
"Can you see the County Master whenever you want?"
Seeing that Zhao Jun seemed a little afraid, the leader said coldly, "If you are afraid that we will deceive you, then come with us to the county. We will naturally be able to distinguish the true from the false."
After he finished speaking, a man squatting next to him whispered in his ear, "Sixth brother, you can't go to the county. If he really brings people to cause trouble at the county government office, and the court opens a trial, the matter will become a big deal. Everyone in the county will know what the head of the family has done, and I'm afraid it will damage his reputation."
The leader thought the same and immediately changed his words, saying, "I'd better not go to the county. I still have to report this matter to my family's head first."
"OK."
Zhao Jun smiled and said, "You go and report the news. I've detained the rest of the people. I advise you to go and come back quickly, otherwise I won't mind arresting them and reporting them to the authorities."
The leader stood up, hesitated for a moment, and finally ran away.
The other servants of the Wang family were captured by Zhao Jun.
Fang Caixia choked with fear and said, "Sir, we can't let him go back to report the news. If Master Wang brings his men here, I'll be dead."
Zhao Jun comforted him, "Don't be afraid. Since I dare to save you, I can make the decision for you. To be honest, I am also an official."
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